


The Best Year

by Giant_Flying_Sky_Whale



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Canon Compliant, Gen, sorta but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25964032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giant_Flying_Sky_Whale/pseuds/Giant_Flying_Sky_Whale
Summary: “Sora, you lazy bum,” Kairi chided.  “It’s almost noon!”Sora rubbed his eye.  “Yeah?  What about it?”“Half of the day is gone already!” Riku protested.  “We’ll barely get to spend any time on the island!”Series of oneshots, mostly connected through a High School AU
Relationships: Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	1. Day 001

Sora woke up slowly. There was a light shining in his eyes, but when he turned around, it didn’t help.

“Soraa~” a female voice sang.

He searched for a pillow and flung it at the voice.

A male chuckled.

Suddenly, the pillow that Sora had thrown was back. And it was being pressed, hard, against his head. He began fighting with the two arms that were holding the pillow. They quickly disappeared, but they were replaced by something even more threatening: fingers.

“I give up, I give up!” Sora laughed, struggling against the tickling fingers. “I’m awake, get off!” He kicked at the source of the torment, glaring when the fingers finally retreated.

“Sora, you lazy bum,” Kairi chided. “It’s almost noon!”

Sora rubbed his eye. “Yeah? What about it?”

“Half of the day is gone already!” Riku protested. “We’ll barely get to spend any time on the island!”

Sora gave his friends a confused look. “Hey, I deserved to sleep in. Besides, we normally don’t leave until after lunch anyway. What’s so different about today?”

Kairi and Riku exchanged exasperated looks. “He forgot,” they said in unison.

“Forgot what?”

“About the storm that’s coming in tonight?” Kairi told him.

“Oh!” Sora remembered.

“My parents want me to be back on the mainland by 5,” Kairi continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “It’s supposed to be really serious.”

“But we always have storms in the summer!” Sora protested. “Why is this one so different?”

“Because this will be the first storm since we got back,” Riku told him.

Sora’s confused face was back. “And that’s got to do with . . . ?”

Kairi sighed in exasperation, saying, “The last time there was a storm, the Islands disappeared. When our parents noticed we weren’t here, they were worried. Luckily, it didn’t take you all that long to find Riku after you freed the worlds from the Heartless. If you had taken any longer, I would’ve had to try and stop your parents from going after you two.”

“Oh, right.”

“You knew that. How deeply asleep  _ were _ you anyway?” Riku wondered, bending down so that he was level with Sora.

Sora grinned.

Riku quickly stood up, turning his face away. “Agh! Your breath is disgusting! Go brush your teeth!”

Sora turned to Kairi, who quickly backed away. “Don’t look at me, I’m going to trust Riku on this one!”

Sora hopped out of his bed and ran to the bathroom to get ready. He heard his friends leave his room and go downstairs to wait for him. He quickly brushed his teeth, ran his fingers through his hair, ran back to his room, and threw on his usual clothes. Running down the stairs, he tripped on his shoes and almost fell.

“Whoa!” Sora shouted.

“Careful,” his mom chided as she caught him. He grinned at her. She smiled back, letting him go and smoothing his hair. “That’s what you get for leaving your shoes strewn all about the place.”

“I’ll put them away next time for sure, then!” Sora promised, sitting on the steps to put on his shoes.

His mom, Celeste, raised her eyebrows. “Uh huh. Do you want a snack to take with you?”

“No, I’m good!” he shouted, jumping up. “Riku, Kairi, let’s go! We have a whole day to fit into four hours! Bye, Mom!” He ran out of his house and to the docks.

Riku and Kairi followed him, rolling their eyes before taking off running.

“I want him back by 5, okay, you two? There’s a big storm coming tonight and I don’t want to leave him alone again!” Celeste called after his two friends.

Riku turned, running backwards, saluted his friend’s mom, and turned around again to run forwards.

* * *

Sora and Kairi sat on the sideways tree, Riku leaning against it.

“Say, Riku?” Sora asked, turning sideways and leaning back so that he was lying down again, his hands behind his head.

“Hmm?”

“How did you and King Mickey get out? The Door to Darkness was locked from both sides.”

Riku turned to Sora, then back out to the horizon. “You know, I don’t really know. We closed the Door. The next thing I remember is waking up in Castle Oblivion.”

“Castle . . . Oblivion?” Kairi asked. “What’s that?”

“The place where I found you?” Sora asked, sitting up. “Is that what it’s called?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Tell us about it, Riku!” Kairi ordered, excited.

“It’s an . . .  _ interesting _ place. I’m not sure I’d recommend going there. Whenever you enter the next room, you need to use a card and then it’s like you’re in that world. But if you hadn’t used the card and instead just walked into the room, it would just be white and huge.”

“Sounds . . . interesting . . . ?” Sora agreed.

“Hey, it’s almost four. We should head back,” Kairi said, staring at Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie as they got into their boat. “We don’t want to get caught in the middle of the storm, do we?” She jumped off of the tree. Riku straightened from where he was leaning against the tree.

“Do we  _ have _ to go?” Sora whined, flopping back down onto the tree.

“ _ Yes _ , Sora,” Riku ordered, annoyed.

“But I’ve faced worse than a tropical storm!” Sora argued. “I beat Ansem, for crying out loud!”

“Ansem was something you could fight, dummy,” Kairi told him, silencing Riku with a look. “You can’t fight a tropical storm, Sora. Do you remember what happened when the Islands disappeared?”

“Of course!” Sora sat up straight. “How could I forget?”

“Do you remember how hard it was to even  _ get _ to the Islands in the first place?”

Sora looked down. “Yeah.”

“Well, this storm is supposed to be  _ worse _ than the one that hit the Islands that night,” Kairi continued. “It’ll make you  _ wish _ for weather that calm in comparison.”

Sora took a deep breath, letting it out in disappointment. “Okay.” He jumped down from the tree. “I just wish we didn’t have to leave so soon.”

“I know,” Kairi agreed softly.

Riku stared at the horizon. Then he looked directly at Sora. “Race you to the boats!” he challenged and took off running.

“Hey, no fair!” Sora shouted after him, immediately following.

Kairi grinned, glancing at the horizon before quickly following her boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I named Sora's mom "Celeste" because sora=sky and space is above the sky and space makes me think of Celestial.


	2. Day 005

“School starts  _ tomorrow _ , Mom! Why can’t I spend my last day with Riku and Kairi?”

She sighed. “Fine. Go.”

“Thank you!” Sora shouted, throwing his arms around her in a hug before running out the door.

* * *

“What are we going to do today?” Sora asked.

“I thought  _ you _ would have a plan,” Riku teased.

“You know the door in the Secret Place?” Kairi asked.

Sora and Riku looked at each other, then back to Kairi.

“Yeah, what about it?” Sora asked.

“Well, what’s behind it?”

“. . . Race you to the boat!” Sora and Riku shouted at the same time, taking off running. Kairi just sighed, running after her boys. Sometimes she wondered if their adventure had actually changed them at all.

* * *

“Okay, so we have to be careful,” Sora cautioned his two friends as they left the boat. “When the Heartless got in there, they destroyed our world.”

“We remember, Sora, we were there too,” Riku sighed.

“You can never be too careful, though. Wouldn’t want to lose the Islands again, would we?”

“I don’t know,” Kairi said seriously. “School starts  _ tomorrow _ . Would it really be that bad?”

“Kairi!” Sora shouted, shocked.

His two friends laughed. “Lighten up, Sora,” Kairi scolded. “What, we can’t even make jokes anymore?”

“Not about that, no,” Sora frowned at the ground.

“Hey, are you sure you want to do this?” Riku asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We can go play on the beach if you don’t feel comfortable.”

Sora looked up at his best friend through his hair. He  _ really _ didn’t want to be here . . . but Riku and Kairi did. “Nah, I’m good.”

“You ready?” Kairi asked.

Sora blinked. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed they’d already walked across the beach and through the tunnel. All that was left was to open the door . . .

“As always,” Riku said. He walked up to the door and inspected it, testing the edges. “It’s firmly shut. We’ll need to find some way to open it.”

“Or . . .” Kairi said, turning to look at Sora.

“What?” he asked.

“Or . . .” Riku agreed, also staring at Sora.

“ _ Whaaat _ ?” Sora whined, annoyed that they had both figured something out and weren’t telling him.

Riku sighed. “You have a Keyblade, Sora. Keys unlock doors, remember? Maybe you can get it to open.”

“Oh right,” Sora said.

“How you got so far on your journey without us, I’ll never know,” Kairi teased, grinning at Riku.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!” Sora argued.

“He had Donald and Goofy with him, remember?” Riku asked Kairi, ignoring Sora.

Sora looked down. /Donald and Goofy . . ./ He quickly shook himself out of it and summoned his Keyblade. He held it up. The familiar beam of light shot out of the tip and toward the door, unlocking it. Riku went to open the door again and this time he succeeded.

“You’ll be the least likely to damage the Islands, Kairi,” Riku told her, standing out of the way. “You go first.”

“What makes you say that?” Kairi asked, walking toward the door anyway.

“You’re a Princess of Light,” Riku deadpanned.

“ _ Right _ . . .” she walked through the doorway.

Sora and Riku waited, Riku more patiently than Sora.

Kairi poked her head out. “It’s amazing!” she exclaimed and disappeared.

That was all the motivation Riku needed before he ran through the doorway. Sora followed more slowly, hesitantly.

Inside the door was something that was unnervingly familiar. Far off in the distance, there was a giant, white swirl. It looked exactly like the one at the End of the World. The only difference was that the area in between Sora and the swirl wasn’t empty and purple. There was a meandering path through foliage and a forest. It reminded Sora of Deep Jungle. But there was no sky, just darkness. There was no sun, nor insects nor other animals. Everything was still; there was no wind. Honestly? It looked dead.

Riku and Kairi stared around them, amazed.

“Just  _ look _ at everything! Have you ever seen this much green before?” Kairi asked.

“Not like this,” Riku answered, awed. “You can’t even see an ocean! Do you think there’s one nearby?”

“No, doesn’t feel like it. No breeze, you know?” Kairi said.

“Race ya!” Riku challenged before the two took off, closer to the swirl of light.

Sora was confused.

This was probably the  _ least _ amazing place he had seen. Even Atlantica was better than this. And then it hit him with the weight of a Behemoth. They’d never seen all of those other worlds, not like he had. Kairi had been inside his heart, but did she even remember anything? Riku had traveled on the whims of Maleficent. Neither of them had  _ seen _ . . .

Sora followed slowly.

* * *

At the center of the giant swirl, there was a giant heart.

“Let’s leave that alone,” Riku decided.

They continued exploring the inside of the world’s heart until every nook and cranny was examined. Riku and Kairi talked to each other the whole time, but Sora didn’t say a word. He looked around, saw everything in the Heart of Destiny Islands, but he couldn’t focus on any of it.

“You’ve been quiet this whole time,” Riku interrupted his thoughts. Sora looked up and found that they were back by the sideways tree. “What’s wrong, Sora?”

“. . . I miss Donald and Goofy.”

“What?” That was definitely  _ not _ what they had been expecting to hear.

“It’s just . . .” Sora struggled, sighing. “When I went on my adventure, I had them at my side. I know you guys  _ couldn’t _ be, but I miss the ones who  _ were _ . It . . . feels weird, to go on an adventure without them.”

Riku and Kairi accepted his explanation.

But that wasn’t  _ all  _ that was bothering him . . . 

Riku and Kairi had always wanted to travel, to explore other worlds. Sora saw it in both of them. Riku had always wanted to go and he vocalized that desire. Kairi didn’t know that she wanted to go until that last sunset. When he’d asked her if she wanted to go back after that strange dream he’d had, she had been evasive.

But Sora hadn’t  _ wanted _ to go.

He didn’t  _ tell _ them that, of course. What kind of friend would  _ that _ have made him? But he’d been so happy, spending every day on the island. He saw no reason to change that. No reason at all. And Donald and Goofy  _ got it _ , without him having to explain it to them. Neither of them had wanted to leave either, but they had to follow the King’s instructions. His instructions to find the person with the key. And after they’d closed the Door to Darkness and Sora ran off to say goodbye to Kairi . . . Donald and Goofy had both looked so  _ happy _ to see him. Like they’d expected him to leave without saying goodbye, like their king had, and go back to his peaceful life on Destiny Islands.

He couldn’t have done  _ that _ , obviously. Riku and the King had been on the other side of the Door. If they hadn’t, all of them could have fit into the gummi ship - Sora wouldn’t have had to leave them _ that _ soon after defeating Ansem.

“I’m sorry, Sora,” Kairi interrupted his thoughts.

Sora blinked. “Sorry, what? What did you say?”

“I’m sorry,” Kairi repeated herself. “You must really miss them. They were at your side constantly, weren’t they?”

Sora grinned, crossing his arms behind his head. “Well, there were a couple of times where we didn’t stay together. When we crash landed in Deep Jungle, we were thrown to opposite sides of the world. At Hollow Bastion . . .” Sora trailed off, glancing at his best friend.

“They left you and followed me,” Riku continued, “because I had the Keyblade.”

“And again when fighting you and then Ansem and then when we fought World of Chaos. But other than those times, yes, they were constantly at my side. And now . . . they’re not.”


End file.
